Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Legendary Sandwiches

The Baguette Barge, Stratford-upon-Avon.

As fond as I am of Northfield's own Hogan Brothers, where I always have a half combo with everything (heated), I still look back fondly at my graduate student days in Providence, Rhode Island (1986-1990) as the golden age of sandwiches. My two favorite sandwiches of all time were:

1. Turkey, bacon and swiss from the Silver Truck. After pitchers of Schaeffer ("the one beer to have when you're having more than one") at the GCB (Graduate Center Bar), nothing cleansed the palate like turkey, bacon and swiss (with lettuce, tomato and mayo on a grinder roll) from the Silver Truck.

2. Hot pastrami and swiss with Shedd's sauce at the Meeting Street Café. Unlike the Silver Truck, the Meeting Street Café is still around. I've never seen nor heard of Shedd's sauce outside of Providence. It's a blend of mayonnaise, dijon mustard and horseradish. It's the perfect accompaniment for hot pastrami.

Those were the days. In England, though, I added a new sandwich to my list of favorites: brie, bacon, and cranberry sauce on a baguette. I first had brie and cranberry sauce on a baguette (without the bacon) at the Baguette Barge in Stratford-upon-Avon after a morning performance of Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2. At home, I've attempted to recreate all of these sandwiches, but they're just not the same as the originals.

5 comments:

There was a sandwich place down the hill a bit, kind of in the RISD area, that I still hold in awe. They would melt the cheese separately in a toaster oven and then slide/scrape it into your sandwich. I remember in particular a turkey sandwich on a baguette with melted Muenster cheese and sprinkled with celery seed. That was an awesome, awesome sandwich.

As a kid, living on the streets (inside my house), I used to make a sandwich which I loved. 2 slices of white bread toasted and buttered, crisp lettuce, pre-processed, individually-wrapped "American" cheese (you know, 64 slices in a pack?), 3-4 slices of bacon, and two fried eggs, then mayo - usually Miracle Whip - mmmmmmm...

Heaven in a heart attack.

I still make it on rare occasions.

I always thought it was an appropriate sandwich for me to love because three of the main ingredients - bacon, lettuce and eggs - could be abbreviated BLE, which are my initials.

Though I certainly agree with everyone about Hogan Bros., I think the cheeseburgers at Tiny's are very good. And my all-time favorite sandwich is a gyro from practically any of the little shops around Chicago. Great stuff.